W4LNY

Ok I live in SC right on the NC/SC border I have been using the Rock Hill VA CBOC Clinic as my primary care doctor and Dorn VA as my primary hospital. When I get paid for travel it is based on the Salisbury NC VA as this is closer to me by just a few miles. I have been to their ER once and it was a positive experience, I have been to the ER at Dorn a few times and it has never been a positive experience, extremely long waits for starters. I have had several issues recently with my care, and was offered to switch to the Charlotte CBOC as my primary care and Salisbury as my primary hospital, I have been told waits to see specialists in Salisbury is only about a month, whereas I am waiting 4 to 6 months to see a specialist at Dorn. I am just looking for anyone that could provide some feedback about the Charlotte CBOC or Salisbury Hospital especially how it relates to treatment that you may have received in South Carolina, I have heard many vets have been in this situation as me so I am hoping to get some feedback so I can make the best decision here. Thanks, David

Today is now the 17th eBenefits is still down and all I have been able to find out what is on this forum. I do not see any coverage of this on any of the national news outlets, they seem to be to busy bashing healthcare,gov to care about us. I would like to know if my VA information is safe and some explanation of what happened here.

Today is the 17th and it is still down, what the heck is going on?

john999 you are in the same boat as me, your VA Claims records have all been sent to the 3rd party contractors scanning facility, the VA no longer has any of your records and no decision can be made until your files are scanned into the new VBMS system. I could understand that scanning 180,000 VA Claim folders into the new system could take some time, but it is scary to think that the RO's are sending out our complete folders to these 3rd parties without keeping copies, the chances of something getting lost or misplaced is very high I would believe.

My claim appears now the be delayed waiting for the "5103 Waiver Review from third party" according to eBenefits, the rest of my claim has progressed and should now be ready for a decision, here is what I believe the real problem is and I have not seen this discussed. Somewhere someone posted a VA document explaining the 5103 Waiver Review process, it discuses that this is a one time initiative affecting about 180,000 pending claims. When you read the entire document you will find that the VA RO is required to forward the ENTIRE claims folder to the scanning facility to be scanned into the new system (VBMS). All the affected claimants were sent the 5103 waiver notice form. Lots of people like my self watched our claim times jump significantly once the scanning center (Janesville WI) was involved in the loop. I confirmed my files were sent to WI by my RO several months ago, I now believe the delay is the actual scanning of these files the RO's have sent. Remember if you received a 5103 notice that means your entire VA paper file for all your claims has been sent to be scanned in, it makes me wonder at this point have they lost some files in the process, or are they just that overwhelmed and backlogged trying to scan all these files into the new VBMS system? The reason it is indicating "3rd Party" is that the scanning centers are government contractors not actual VA employees. One of my clues to figuring this out, is that I had surgery back in August and I filed a Hardship request to at least speed up my temporary 100% rating for the recovery time. The RO agreed and thought they could do this, I brought them all the necessary paperwork, but found out there was no copies of my file at the RO, after giving them all the paperwork, eBenefits indicated they still needed proof of my original Service Connected Disability, which was related to the surgery. I scratched my head thinking they have my file they should know this already, now I realize all my old paperwork and files were sent to this 3rd party scanning center and no one has seen them since. I am not sure if it will help me or not, but tonight I scanned in my old award letters and uploaded them to eBenefits under the claim for the surgery, tomorrow I should know something, everything I have scanned in and uploaded to date has been acknowledged and updated in eBenefits the same day. This really needs to be looked into further by someone who knows how to contact the right people at the VA.

okay just posting an update I received a request to do another C&P exam and provide a list of my employers so they could contact them. the C&P exam was a little strange but seemed to go very well I say strange because I checked in and arrived earlier than my appointment time immediately after checking in the Dr called my cell phone and asked if I was still coming in and that he was waiting for me when I got to his office there was a lot of people waiting they had indicated that they had earlier appointments than me and had been waiting for quite some time and they all stated that the doctor had called my name and was waiting for me again I was actually early for my appointment at this point, why I was seen before everyone else is baffling to me, anyway the doctor agreed that since the VA surgery I have had a loss of flexicitity in my left foot he also asked about my work and seemed to agree that my problems would impact the type of work I do. He asked if I could walk a city block I said yes but I would probably be slow and would take a break during the walk he then replied it does not count if I could not do it without stopping he said several times that he was evaluating me for an increase at the end he did state I should have the answer within a few weeks but that I was good to go. on the employer front all of my past employers responded to their requests my current employer did respond as the last to do so according to ebenefits this is the last piece of evidence that the VA is waiting for my company did return the form and indicated I did lose pay from the disability in the box where asked for accommodations the company wrote that they have restricted me to working locations where I can sit and observe and require no walking or standing at all they also stated this limitation has limited my work to 15 to 25 hours a week instead of my previous 40. how this new information will effect the outcome of my claim is yet to be determined although it appears once they receive the form from my current employer they will have all the evidence that I have to provide them and that they have requested.

Yes I have chronic pain before and after surgery, which is why I cant walk normally and have not for years, it seems like the orthopedic shoes make the pain worse, I even started driving barefoot less pain that way now they gave me special shoes and inserts made for just driving, those are the only shoes they gave me that halfway work, although if I try to walk with them it is horrible so I have to switch to the walking shoes every time I get out of the car although those shoes really don't help much at all, that is part of the frustration just wearing the shoes causes pain. I haven't had tissue cut out or iv antibiotics just oral ones, although the doctor sent me to the ER 2 weeks ago to get tests done, they thought the infection had spread to the bones in my feet, but the xrays showed I was good there, I have had severe swelling since the surgery so bad at times I cannot move any toes or even feel them last week could not put my shoe on swelling was so bad.

Here is an update my TDIU claim is still in Washington, Regional Office said it is being actively opened and looked at by someone there. In the mean time I saw the VA Doctor yesturday, he wrote a NEXUS statement and added new dx to my records his written statement is as follows: While Active Duty had stress fractures b/l misdiagnosed one turned into a full fracture of 2nd Metatarsal (Current Service Connection) this fracture caused my metatarsal to be deviated which caused a neuroma the pain from the neuroma caused me to walk incorrectly causing Plantar Fasciitis b/l the surgery the VA did to remove neuroma caused complicatiins including hematoma and staph infection all of which has further aggrevated the plantar Fasciitis b/l. As far as my treatment orthopedic shoes are not working they are adding night splints they said I also need to be on NSAIDs but I am allergic and cannot take them probably will need cortazone steroid shots in my feet. So now my VA records now show active conditions as foot pain, lesion of plantar nerve, flat foot b/l, plantar fasciitis b/l.

I have never applied for SSI or Social Security Disability, although I have thought about it for other conditions other than my Service Connected issues, I was always able to work until my feet problems got worse, its hard to do Security work if you can't be on your feeet, walk, run, etc for most of your shift, I have done security work on and off over 22 years, hell I even wworked securoty while active duty, lol but now beca6se of my feet issues I basically lost my last job.

Well like I said in my earlier post, I didn't apply for it nor do I really expect to get it I was at the RO again today and they are trying to get my temp Disability claim approved, I had to bring them more paperwork today, they did tell me that getting the temp 100% Approved mY help my chances.

what I find funny about the whole thing is that not even the reps I've spoken with at the regional office don't believe that I did nothing to initiate this claim in fact when we first realized back in January by looking at eBenefits that this claim had been filed my rep with the American Legion actually suggested that I go to the VA and have them cancel the claim and I decided against that I figured there was a reason why the claim has been made in the first place and I should just let it ride.

The Surgery was done at an Army hospital under the "VA DOD sharing program" the surgeon was my VA doctor, everyone else involved was Army doctors and nurses. And yes Extra Scheduler Consideration was the term used, it took the lady I was talking with who is actually a rater and her supervisor 20 minutes to figure it out, I got the impression this does not happen much.

Ok here we go in June of 2012 I was working full time in Security for a major financial company the job required me to be on my feet the entire shift, I started having major issues with my feet, I always have had pain and walk with a very minor limp from an injury in the Army I had stress fractures in both feet that were misdiagnosed one turned into a full fracture of my metatarsal that is now deviated but anyway with this job my foot got worse and worse until I could not do the job anymore since than I had to work at another site with less pay and hours I had filed a VA claim with a line of duty form I was given when I left service I was granted Service Connection within 3 months and started getting treatment at the VA I was rated at 0% but appealed that to DRO who submitted an UI claim on my behalf I did not initiate the claim but anyway the doctor said I have flat foot b/l that is now service aggrevated, I had a mortons nuroma, bone spurs that have developed and I was given orthopedic shoes which the doctor noted are not working very well, they gave me shoes for work another set for just walking and now another set for driving, last month I had surgery to remove the nuroma since than the surgery caused a staff infection in my foot and severe blood clotting and hematoma I am waiting for an answer on my 100% TD for surgery recovery time anyway the regional office told me all the claims are held up because of my pending unemployability claim they also tell me it continues to be worked and they keep telling me I have a good chance of getting it although I don't believe them I found out today my claim was sent to Washington DC to the Under Secretary of the VA's office somethibg about a special circumstance let me just add for the last 2 years my inconme has been below 12,000 and I am a full time single father we are on Medicaid, food stamps etc, so far I have gotten nothing at all from the VA but today I filled for Financial Hardship now they tell me they can get me the TD 100% for the surgery within 30 days until the TDUI claim decision is made so should I really expect anything to come of this TDUI claim like they keep telling me? thanks

Never discussed unemployability with anyone, I went to the regional VA office to bring them a copy of my latest medical records, when they told me the unemployability claim was filed this january, the last thing I appled for was a DRO appeal in November, online it shows my orginal claim and says: contenrions: unemployability. Now in my orginal C & P claim paperwork, that is on appeal now to the DRO, there was a statement about my work, basically I do securoty work and was at a site full time but I had trouble being on my feet for long periods directly related to my SC issues my company had to move me to another site at part time hours and less per hour pay rate. I am wondering did the VA add the unemployability because of that statenent, or maybe it is just a cut and paste error, I just dont know.

Last June I filed a P&C Claim for my feet, in November I was granted a Service Connection rated at 0% I immediatly appealed and have an appeal pending to the DRO since November. Suddenly the VA shows in January I have a claim pending for unemployability, me nor my rep filed an unemployability ckaim. I am considering asking the VA to close it, becaue I am sure I would not qualify. I am afraid to close it though, because I am wondering if the VA themselves opened it for some reason, since no one knows why Iit was opened in the first place. Anyone had this happen to them? Any suggestions on what I should do ask to cancel it or let it ride? Will it slow down my DRO review? Thanks, David